


The Fallen

by Squirrelly2021



Category: DCU (Comics), Marvel
Genre: AU, Based on an AU, Family Issues, He's mentioned like once or twice, I'm Bad At Summaries, Iron Man - Freeform, Marvel Universe, My First Fanfic, No Beta, Original Universe, Other, Poor Skylar, Trust Issues, We Die Like Men, and DC I guess, marvel characters mentioned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 13,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22389250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squirrelly2021/pseuds/Squirrelly2021
Summary: A young girl named Skylar falls from the sky onto Earth. She then meets the chosen heroes of the planet and befriends them.  This is the story of a long journey.Little did Skylar know, her life has only just begun.
Kudos: 2





	1. ~Prelude~

~Prelude~

The kingdom of Nethoria was resting quietly and the streets were empty. The Palace where the Lordship resided was calm. The natives, Nethorians, had retired to their homes to rest for the night, except one Nethorian. This child was sneaking through the palace in search of the portal room. The use of portals was restricted only to the Lordship unless explicitly said otherwise. The kid was waiting for her signal to go into the portal room so the guards wouldn’t catch her. 

Suddenly, a young voice rang out, “Guards! My father wants you to go and patrol the front gardens immediately.”  
Still, in shock from the 14-year-old boy’s order, the two replied, “Young Lord, if we leave our post, who will watch the portal room?”  
The boy responds, “Are you questioning my authority, soldier?!”  
The Guards hurriedly left their post to go patrol the front gardens as ordered to do. The boy says quietly, “Alright Skylar, they’re gone for now.”  
The girl, Skylar, answers, “Axel, how long do I have to put in the planet coordinates?”  
Axel tells her, “I’d say 15 minutes, 20 if you’re lucky.” As he turns around to walk off, he says back to the 14-year-old, “Good luck with your new life, Zína” (Zína=sister)

Skylar rushes over to the computer and begins typing in the coordinates for Planet Xera, a location 30 cliques away (equivalent to 3,000 light-years). She mumbled to herself, “Once I get to Xera, I can make a new identity for myself. No one will know I’m Aethorian or know my family line”  
Aethoria is the neighboring planet of Nethoria, hence why their names are incredibly similar. The Lord of Nethoria and the Lord of Aethoria are brothers from a very ancient lineage. Unfortunately, the brothers had been feuding for years and the planets became rivals. Roughly 14 years ago from the present, the Kingdom of Aethoria was wiped out by an unknown source. Only one Aethorian had survived the devastation, the daughter of the Aethorian Lord, a small infant only a few weeks old. When news had been delivered to the Lord of Nethoria that the Aethorians had fallen, he sent out guards to do a reconnaissance of the Kingdom for survivors. The guards came back with the infant and the Lord took her in for the first 8 years of her life, the other 6 years were spent in the streets. Skylar was that lone survivor.

Right as she was almost finished entering the coordinates into the portal, she was abruptly grabbed by two pairs of hands. It was the guards. Skylar yells, “Hey! Let go of me!”

From the doorway, Axel walks in with a smug look on his face, “Did you really think I was going to let you run away to Xera dear Zina”  
Skylar, angry that she had been betrayed by her step-brother, yells back at him, “I thought you said you would help me! We made a deal!”  
Axel smirks, “Did you think my father would let the last Aethorian in existence run away? You and I both know that you can never disappear like you want to. At least, not with that purple hair and those purple eyes of yours.” Then, Axel looks to the guards behind him and tells them, “Put in the coordinates for Planet T.”  
Skylar’s eyes widen with realization and she yells out, “Axel, please you can’t do this to me! You can’t send me there! I can’t speak English, so how am I supposed to get by?!”  
Axel chuckled and tells her, “Well looks like you have to figure that out yourself.” He tells the guards to release her arms and shoved her into the portal. Looks like Skylar is in for a ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think in the comments! (I understand if anyone is confused, I created this whole idea in my head.) I update as much as I can while in school.
> 
> Enjoy!


	2. The Fallen

Falling.

I’m falling.

Wait… I'm **FALLING**?!

* **CRASH** *

I groaned as my body made contact with the dirt. I must have fallen from about 35 feet from the ground. Stupid portal. I open my eyes and see I’m in a small crater just a little bigger than my body. I closed my eyes again in pain as I slowly attempt to sit up and survey the field I, literally, fell into. Suddenly, I heard a voice ring out from above me.

“Hey, are you alright kid? Here, let me give you a hand.”  
I look towards the direction of the voice. The owner of the voice is a male, maybe in his early 20’s or late teens. He’s tall, dark brown hair, and has a weird goatee/ stubble thing going on. He’s speaking English so I can assume this man is human.  
Wait. He’s still looking at me for an answer.

One problem with that.

I can’t speak English.

Instead of replying verbally, I hesitantly grasped his outstretched hand and let him lift me from the small crater that I made in the ground. Once I’m upright, I look around and see a small town in the distance and a few large, peculiar buildings. The man must have noticed my confusion and said, “You must be a little lost right now. Let me start off by introducing myself.” he holds out his hand, “Hi, my name is Taylor!”  
I dubiously shake his hand and return his smile. What am I supposed to do? I can’t answer his questions, which I’m sure he has many about who I am and why a purple-haired girl just fell out of the sky. He looks at me confused for a second and then says, “I can tell you’re not from around here. Can you speak English? At all?” I shake my head no in reply. He looks a little frustrated, but simply tells me, “I guess I’ll just have to ask you yes or no questions for now.” I smiled at him and nodded my head yes to his plan. Taylor seems like a nice person, but I’m still not sure if I can trust him.

“I think we should go to the local hospital to make sure you didn’t injure anything in that fall. Come on, I’ll lead the way.”  
I follow the guy throughout the town and occasionally Taylor would tell me about certain buildings and the park at the center of town. Apparently, this town is called “Daily” though I think that’s a weird name for a town. As we keep walking the path, we start heading towards this 2 story, white building with walls made almost entirely of glass. It has a red “M” on the front of the building.  
“It stands for MightyMed, which I’ll explain why later on. The doctor here is super nice though, so you don’t need to worry about her trying to hurt you.”  
That helped ease some of my worries, but it did nothing to alleviate the anxiety of being around all these humans. Though, as we go up to the second floor, Taylor starts speaking to a young woman with light brown, curly hair wearing a white coat, “Hey Dr. Newman, I have someone I need you to take a look at. Don’t freak out though, she’s not exactly from around here.”  
The woman, Dr. Newman, turns around and gasps when she sees me hiding behind Taylor, “Taylor! You didn’t say that this person was a child! What’s your name kid?” She’s looking at me for an answer. I can’t answer. What do I do? Taylor speaks up, “Sorry Doc, but I’m pretty sure she can’t speak English. Maybe we can move this to your office? Away from all the prying eyes. I think they’re freaking her out.”

Thankful that he noticed my unease, I followed them into the Doctor’s office and the lady turned to me inquisitively. She then held out her hand and smiled gently, “Hi sweetie, my name is Abigail Newman. I’m good friends with Taylor here and I just want to make sure you aren’t hurt.” This doctor had a motherly aura about her, so I allowed her to poke and prod at me and make sure I had not broken anything.  
After the nice doctor had finished examining me, she asked if she could take a blood sample. Hearing this, I started freaking out a little. She noticed the panic in my eyes and rushed to say, “I just need a blood sample so I can see how different your DNA is from human DNA. That way I can figure out what medications you can take and what will work best for you.” I guess I could see the logic in needing a sample of my blood, so I allow her to take the sample. Once she’s done she tells Taylor, “Alright. She seems to be fine physically, but I advise you to inform the team of her existence.”

Team? What team? Taylor sighs and tells me we need to head over to The Hall. I have no idea what “The Hall” is, but I followed him anyway. We start walking towards one of the weird buildings I saw earlier. This building is white, large, and has a gold statue in the middle of a fountain in front of the building. We walk in and I notice a bunch of pillars with names written on them, symbols above the names, and the top of the pillars are all on fire. Taylor continues to lead me into this room behind all the pillars. It looks like a conference room or a court. Several people are gathered in the room and are talking amongst each other. There are 3 guys and 1 woman, each wearing odd, funny looking suits. They all turn to look at Taylor when he says, “Hey guys! I have someone I want you to meet.” He moves from in front of me and gestures towards me. Oh, gods, this oughta be fun.


	3. Meet the Team

All at once the group of four exclaims:

The woman dressed as something close to a Viking with a red cape and armor- “OH MY GOSH! SHE’S ADORABLE!”

One of the guys wearing a green full bodysuit with a green ring on his finger- “Dude, who the hell is the kid?”

The man wearing a blue and red suit with an S in the center- “Taylor who did you steal this kid from? She doesn’t look like she’s older than 16.”

The third guy wearing a black suit and wearing a bat mask- ”Why does she have purple hair? Is she an alien??”

Taylor speaks up, “Guys, calm down. Let me introduce you guys to her first. The one who looks like a Viking lady is Jess, the weirdo in the green suit is Mateo, the brooding fella over there in the red and blue suit is Alex, and the Bat guy is Kyle.” Jess is shorter than the guys but taller than me. She has long black hair with bangs, a chubby face (but cute *ahem*), pale skin, and a bright smile. Mateo is very tan, short brown hair, and about as tall as Taylor. Alex is very pale, has dark circles under his eyes, and has black hair that goes a little past his ears. 

I wave at them in greeting, a little overwhelmed by the fact that I can’t say anything to them. I’m still a little confused as to why they’re wearing such weird suits. It looks like something straight out of a comic book.   
Taylor must notice my confusion when he says, “Right. I need to explain how things work here. You see, this building we’re in is called The Hall, as you know, but it’s a building meant for superheroes,” I raise an eyebrow in disbelief, “Yes, I know it sounds unbelievable, but it’s true. The rest of the team and I were chosen to be superheroes from a multitude of different comic books. Jess was chosen to be Thor, Mateo was chosen to be Green Lantern, Alex was chosen to be Superman, and Kyle was chosen to be Batman. I, myself, was chosen to be Iron Man, but my suits are all in my lab.”

I had to stop myself from laughing. I knew these people looked like something out of a comic book, but I didn’t know that’s what they literally were.   
Taylor continues, “We had been chosen to protect Daily from villains and the evil of this world. Stars were falling from the sky and the Hall started glowing. It was quite a night to be alive.”  
I was listening to his explanation in awe. I wanted to ask more questions, but he wouldn’t understand me. Then an idea struck me and I started trying to convey that idea to Taylor. I wanted him to teach me how to speak English. I started pointing at him and making hand motions to try and communicate speaking. Somehow, he knew what I was trying to tell him.

“Wait. You want me to try and teach you English? Sure, I guess I can do that, but I need to go get some things from the market next door to The Hall really quickly. Just wait around here and I’ll be back in like 5 minutes.”  
So I stood there waiting for Taylor to come back and I got a little bored. I start wandering around the side of the Hall and see a short-statured and curly-haired ginger, who looks about as old as me, messing around with one of the side entrances. He’s wearing a suit similar to Mateo’s and is just an inch or two taller than me. He notices my presence and starts stomping towards me. He. looks. pissed. 

He starts yelling, “Hey! I saw you with the heroes earlier! Who do you think you are talking to them?!” He grabs the collar of my shirt and starts whispering menacingly, “I don’t know who or what you are, but if I think you’re doing ANYTHING to hurt the heroes, you’ll be dealing with me. Understand?”  
I did understand, but I couldn’t tell him that. He doesn’t look too happy at my lack of a verbal answer.  
“I said, Do you understand?!”  
I struggle to reply, “Y...Ye-Yes.”

Suddenly I hear Taylor from around the corner, “hey kid where did you go?”  
The jerk in front of me hears this too and finally lets go of my shirt, pushing me away. He starts walking away, so I hurried to get back to Taylor and get away from that punk. Taylor sees me looking startled and then looks at the ginger briskly walking away.   
“Oh. I see you met Kid Hero.”

What. is. that. name. I almost burst out laughing. That little punk is called “Kid Hero”? That’s hilarious. 

Taylor sees my amused expression and he grins, “I know. His real name is Nathan, but we all call him Kid Hero since he’s like our guide to being heroes.” That kid is a guide? What a joke. I can’t believe they let that brat “guide” them. “Alright. Let’s head over to my lab and begin teaching you the wonders of the English language. This might take several weeks for you to get the basic statements and be able to hold a conversation.”

Can’t. wait.


	4. Belated Introductions

***Time skip 2 ½ months***

It’s been a little over two months since I fell out of the sky and met the team. Since then, I’ve been learning English and practicing with Taylor. We have gotten to be very good friends in the two months I’ve been here and I believe I am starting to trust him too. Today, though, I want to surprise him by saying my first sentence in English. I sat in the guest room of Taylor’s lab practicing and I think I almost have it down. Taylor’s lab was in the basement of his 1 story house, which was very large and looked kind of expensive. I hear doors opening and closing upstairs, so I hurried and ran up the stairs to go tell Taylor my name. 

That’s right. 

I’ve been here this long and they still don’t know anything about me. But now that I know most of the English language, I just have to actually _say_ it, which is harder than it sounds ok. When I was saying the words out loud, I could hear how much of a Nethorian accent I have (think of a French & Russian accent). Hopefully, that goes away the longer I stay here. I run up to Taylor and he grins when he sees how excited I must look.

“Wow, someone’s happy about something. Did Jess give you another plushie? I think we’re going to have some trouble finding room for it with the other 26.”

I shake my head no, though I wish that had happened, and motioned for him to stay silent. I take a deep breath, hold out my hand, and start speaking, “Hi, my n..name i-s Skylar.” I smile widely once I say the words and Taylor looks very shocked and excited as well. 

“Oh my gosh! You did it! I’m so proud of you!!” He takes a moment to tamp down his excitement and takes my offered hand, “Hi Skylar, nice to finally,  _ officially _ , meet you.”

From then he starts talking animatedly about how quick of a learner I was and how great that was even though I knew nothing just two months ago.

“What are we doing? We need to go tell the others and have you introduce yourself to them as well!” So we started tracking down the other members of the team. First was Mateo since he was a few houses down from us. His house was 1 story, had its own basement as well (where he keeps his hero suits), but was smaller than Taylor’s house. I knock on his door and a few minutes later Mateo opens the door and grins when he sees me. 

“Hey, kid! How nice of you to visit me! I know you’re the one that wanted to visit since Taylor never wants to hang out with his bestie.” Taylor punches him in the arm in rebuttal.

“I do visit you every now and then, thank you very much. But that’s not why we’re here. Someone wants to formally introduce herself to you.” He gestures towards me and Mateo quiets and looks at me in excited anticipation. I take a breath and start speaking.

“Hi, my name i-s Skylar.” I smile in triumph when I didn’t stutter on the “n”. Mateo looks just as happy as Taylor did when I told him my name. 

“Nice to finally meet you, Skylar!” We shake hands and start laughing. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy in my life.

Mateo decides to join us in heading over to Jess’s house, well palace since she took inspiration from the palace in Asgard. Way to stay on theme Jess. We ring her obnoxiously loud doorbell and wait for her to open the large door. Suddenly the door is thrown open and someone is squishing me into their chest. Jess. Even though I’ve been here for two months, she still gets so excited every time she sees me. It’s sweet but please, I need to breathe every now and then. 

“Why hello sweetie pie cinnamon roll, what brings you to my humble abode?” Humble, huh? I don’t bother let Mateo or Taylor explain why I’m here and just skip to my introduction.

“Hi, my name i-s Skylar.” Darn, I’m still struggling with the “I” in “is”. Nevertheless, Jess shrieks and grabs me again excitedly. I knew she would react like this, but somehow she always surprises me. 

“OH MY GOSH! THAT’S SUCH A CUTE NAME FOR YOU. I CAN TOTALLY SEE IT. I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU LEARNED SO FAST-” you don’t need to hear the rest of it. Trust me, she keeps yelling. After Jess finished ranting about my “pureness” or whatever, we decide to hunt down Alex next. That’s when Mateo decides to mention to me-

“Oh, you’ve never been to Alex’s place yet, have you? You should probably know he lives in the side of a mountain right next to the town.” 

What. the. Hell. If anything I expected Kyle to live in the side of a mountain, what with him being BatGuy or whatever. But alright, weird. That’s when we took thirty minutes to hike up the side of the mountain and finally got to his “door”, which was more of a cave opening. He seems to be working on a new suit when he hears Mateo’s labored breathing. 

“Oh, hey guys what’s up.”

Taylor decides to answer him since Mateo.exe is out of service for a while, *points at me* “She wants to tell you something.”

Alex looks towards me, slightly surprised, but expectantly. And we can all guess what I’m about to say right?

“Hi, my name i-s Skylar.” Damnit! I still can’t get the stupid “I”. Although Alex still shows me one of his rare, few smiles and shakes my outstretched hand.

“Nice name. I like it.” Man of few words I see. 

We asked him if he would like to join us in bothering Kyle, but he politely declines and tells his team members to “Get the hell out of my cave, I’m busy” but just pats my shoulder and tells me good luck. Kyle apparently lives in a cave too, called it. This one though is ground level and somewhat underground. It’s right in front of a small lake, so we have to navigate to get around it. He opens the hidden door before any of us could knock and just says that his motion detectors went off. Weird. He asks why we’re here and I just simply said what I’ve said four times already, trying to get the “I” this time.

“Hi, my name...is...Skylar” YES. FINALLY GOT IT. It only took four attempts but I did it. Kyle reacted somewhere between how Taylor reacted and how Alex reacted. Not extremely excited, but he was definitely happy. I feel excited that they finally know my actual name and can stop calling me “kid” or “cinnamon roll” in Jess’s case, I still don’t know if I should be offended or not. I can say more than just those five words but the pronunciation is still hard to get down, y’ know?

I guess if I’m staying with these people, things can start picking up after this. I can finally talk to them and confide in them. Wait. This means they can also ask me questions in return. Questions like “How did you get here?” “What are you” “What brought you here?”. I’m not sure I’m ready to answer those questions, but I know I can at least give them an explanation for why I’m here. 


	5. A Glimpse into the Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this one is a little shorter. I'm so not consistent with word counts (lol).

Ever since I introduced myself to the team, they’ve been working hard to get more information out of me. I like them, really, I do, but I’m not 100 percent certain that I can reveal information about myself. Although, I told Taylor about Nethoria and the Nethorians. He doesn’t know about Aethorians or the relationship they have with Nethorians. I will admit though, I don’t think I’m leaving this place anytime soon. 

Anyway. I’m pretty conversational right now with my English, so I can hold a basic conversation. If I can’t think of the word for something, whoever I’m speaking to just has to guess what I mean. In the meantime, Taylor has been setting up his new superhero suit shop by collecting a large supply of new suits for the heroes to buy. It’s a simple one-story building with a long hallway. Each side of the hallway has a certain tier level suit selection. All selections have the suits in that level on display. It looks just a tiny bit creepy, but, hey, maybe that’s just me. Oh hey, Taylor is finally emerging from his dark dungeon of a basement to actually have social interaction. That’s the first time in a week and a half.

“Hey, Sky! Sorry I’ve been so busy lately. The opening of my new shop is coming up and I have to get everything in order… Well, I guess I could use a small break. How about we go mess with Kyle?”  
I reply, “Sure, he always has the best reactions to our tricks.” Wow. Look at me! Actually speaking and replying.  
So we head over to Kyle’s “home” if you can call it that. Taylor puts on this new power ring that turns you invisible and hides right next to the door. I put on a straight face and knock on his door. Kyle opens the door and looks very surprised to see me. 

“Hey kid, didn’t think you would visit little ole’ me! Come in, come in.” As Kyle leads me inside, Taylor slips in with us undetected. “So, why are you here anyway?”

Shoot. I have to think of something to say. C’mon Skylar, quick, say something, “Oh you know, I just wanted to stop by and see how you are doing. Might as well practice my English speaking skills while Taylor is locked away in his basement.”

Kyle responds, “Aw, it’s nice to actually have somebody want to talk to me because they just want to and not because they need something from me.” Good. He’s buying it. As we continue talking, Taylor starts sneaking around and moving some of Kyle’s stuff around like tools and pieces of different suits. We want to see how long we can keep this up and if we can get away with this. I notice that Taylor moved pieces of Kyle’s Batman suit onto the podium for one of the other suits. So I, being the genius that I am, start ending our conversation and backing up towards the door.  
“Yeah. Well, I think I should go check up on Taylor to make sure he’s alive down there. It’s been great visiting you!” I’m reaching for the door when Kyle starts to realize his stuff is all moved.  
“Wait a minute. I could’ve sworn I put those tools down over here a second ago. Hey, my suits are all mixed up too!” He turns around and looks at me, “Skylar. You wouldn’t lie to me about this would you?” I shake my head no. I notice Taylor is also trying to start getting to the exit so I decided to get us out of here.  
“Sorry Kyle, I don’t know what happened to your stuff. I do actually have to go check up on Taylor, though.”  
Kyle replies, “Ok, you’re telling the truth I can tell,” oh the irony Kyle, “but when you see Taylor, tell him that I will be getting back at him for this!” I smile and start opening the door, making sure to pause long enough to let Taylor out first. I close the door behind us and, once we’re out of sight, we both start laughing.  
Taylor takes off the power ring and speaks up, “Oh man! That was one of the best pranks I’ve pulled on him in a while! How did you learn to lie like that? Kyle seemed to believe you were telling the absolute truth. Hell, even I would have believed you were telling the truth.”

Oh, shoot. I learned how to lie like that from my time living on Nethoria, but there’s no way I can tell him that outright. Now that I think about it, he’s been asking me more and more questions that are related to my past. He’s been figuring things out a little too quickly for me to keep lying about it. I have to talk to him about it. 

This ought to be a pleasant talk.


	6. Skeletons in the Closet

It’s later in the evening when I decide to open up to Taylor about my past. I’m so nervous about this that my hands are shaking. This will be the first time I’ve opened up to somebody since Axel. I don’t want to do this, but I need to be able to trust Taylor and for him to trust me in return. So I take a deep breath and meet Taylor in his “living room” of sorts where he is patiently waiting for me.  
I sit down across from him and begin my long, complicated story, “So. As you can tell, I’m not exactly normal,” Taylor snorts at that, “so I’m going to try and tell you about my past and who I am. I am an Aethorian, well, the only Aethorian left.” Taylor looks just a little horrified at that so I continue my explanation. “The people of Aethoria and the entire kingdom were wiped out by an unknown source when I was a few weeks old. For some reason, I was the only one to survive the disaster. A few guards from Aethoria’s neighboring planet, Nethoria, came over to search for anything salvageable. Nethorians are essentially the same species as Aethorias, except that their hair is black and their eyes are dark red. Those guards found me and took me back to the Lordship of Nethoria, the leader of the kingdom. He decided to take care of me for roughly 8 years, but then kicked me out into the streets. I grew up in the “underground” and learned how to take care of myself, how to fight using weapons, and, as you’ve seen, how to lie.”

Taylor interrupts me briefly, “So that’s how you managed to convince Kyle so easily. You trained yourself on how to make something false seem true. Alright, keep going.” 

I pick up right where I left off, “That was how I lived from the age of 8 years old until I had just turned 14. Now, I didn’t live like this entirely alone. I had a step-brother. The son of the Lord, Axel. He was by my side with every gang fight I got into, and he would often supply me with food and clothing. I trusted him y’ know, he was my brother. I asked him for, what I had planned to be, one last favor. I needed him to clear out the portal room for me, so I could go in there without getting caught. This portal room could open a gateway to almost any planet out there as long as you had the coordinates of that planet. I was planning to escape to a planet called Xera. Xera is a planet where people from all over the galaxies go and trade. I would’ve blended in perfectly and nobody would’ve batted an eye at me. I was putting in the coordinates when two guards grabbed me, held me in front of the gateway, and turned me around. Axel had betrayed me. He changed the coordinates into your planet’s coordinates instead and sent me through. That’s how I ended up here. Then I fell out of the sky and the next thing I see is you offering me your hand.”

Wow. That was a lot to get off my chest. I feel something close to relief at confiding my story in somebody, but how did Taylor react to all of this. Taylor currently has this unreadable expression on his face. Oh gods, is he freaked out or something? I knew this wasn’t a good idea, I shouldn’t have-

“I’m so sorry you had to go through all of that, Sky.”

Wait. Huh?  
The next thing I know is that I'm being pulled into a tight hug and I’m being slightly squashed into his chest/neck. I feel oddly safe like this, like a child being protected by their parents. Hm. That’s something I’ll have to sort out later. Suddenly, I hear Taylor mumbling something from where his head is on top of my head. 

“Thank you for telling me all of this Sky. I can tell that this took a lot of trusting me to open up to somebody you met a few months ago, so I really appreciate it. I just want you to know that you’ll never be alone like that ever again. You’ll always have the team, Dr. Newman, and me by your side.”

Oh, gods, my eyes are watering. I seriously cannot be about to cry. I just feel so wanted for the first time in a long time. Nobody has ever really accepted me like this before, so I have a complete right to cry just a little bit. After this little mental realization, I hug Taylor back just as tightly. I decided to finally respond to him after a few seconds, “Thank you, Taylor. You’ll never know what your kindness really means to me.”

This. THIS is the start of our friendship. THIS is the start of my new life in Daily. 

THIS is where my life truly begins.


	7. The Apprentice

It’s been roughly 5 months since I opened up to Taylor about my entire life story and everything. Since then, I decided that I wanted to help the team out with taking down criminals and maybe even supervillains. So as to train me, I’ve been shadowing Taylor and sometimes Alex when they go out on patrol. I’ve taken down a few prison escapees, but not much else. Taylor has also let me assist him with making his Iron Man suits and gadgets for the rest of the team. Oh, here he comes now.  
“Hey, Sky, can you help me figure out what’s wrong with my helmet sensors. One of them is acting up and almost made me fly straight into the Hall.”  
I grin and reply, “Sure, hand me the designs and diagrams for this suit’s helmet.”  
This is generally how our conversations go these days. Come to think of it, it’s almost been a year since I met these guys. It’s been quite literally the best year of my small lifetime. 

I start pulling up the blueprints and putting them next to the diagrams for the suit’s helmet. Huh, it seems to be missing a few bolts on the side. I wonder where Taylor could have lost those pieces. It doesn’t surprise me since his lab is an utter disaster down here. Like, how can one guy be so unorganized when he is usually the only one down here.   
I overhear Taylor mumbling to himself about his shop items, “Hm. Should I put this suit on display or should I keep in my personal stock…”  
Hm. He’s been so invested in getting ahold of all the different superhero suits that he has actually started getting some of the villain suits.

Now I know what you’re thinking. Why would he have villain suits when he is a superhero? Well, the hero suits only give the wearer the abilities of that hero. Villain suits grant the abilities of the villain, but even more potent and sometimes more than one ability. Though villain suits have the capability of altering the wearer’s mentality, it won’t as long as you don’t wear it for too long and too much. I know it sounds really strange but I’ve researched the history of the Hall and discovered that such a thing happened to a past hero, who turned villain. 

This once hero had been chosen to be the superhero known as The Flash. He had super-speed and quick healing ability. But tragedy struck and a child had been killed because this hero couldn’t get to her fast enough. Almost insane with guilt and anger, this hero turned to the villain suits. He opted for the Reverse-Flash, the complimentary villain to The Flash. This suit granted him more speed and even offered him strength. 

For a while, the suit allowed him to save even more people than before, but his fellow hero colleagues warned him that the prolonged use of a villain suit would corrupt him. 

He didn’t listen to them and continued to wear the suit. After a course of 6 months, the first signs of corruption appeared. He began to act viciously towards his friends and felt less and less guilty for the citizens he couldn’t save. Eventually, he would even refuse to save people if it wasn’t convenient for him.

Of course, his friends and teammates noticed the difference in his personality and moral values and attempted to confront him. 

Keyword: Attempted.

He went on an absolute rampage that almost couldn’t be stopped. He ended up killing a few of his teammates and himself in the process of trying to destroy the town he was supposed to be protecting. He was completely driven insane from the nonstop use of the villain suit. 

That is why strict warnings and restrictions were eventually placed on villain suits of any kind. This means that any designated villain suit, no matter how weak or powerful, had a warning placed on it. So of course, Taylor knows these warnings and would listen to them. He wouldn’t let himself fall under the control of the suit.

...Right?

As I continued to muse this, I didn’t find the blueprints I was originally looking for, but instead, I found a piece of a suit. I couldn’t determine what suit it was exactly, but I had a sneaking suspicion it wasn’t a hero suit. “Hey Taylor, are you looking for a suit piece? Maybe a pair of metal boots?”

He turned to look at me, seemingly relieved, “Oh Sky, thank gods you found them. Now I have almost every piece but the helmet.”   
I responded, “What suit are you working on?” Oh please don’t be working on a villain suit, Taylor.   
“Don’t worry. I’ve got everything under control, Sky!” He tells me with a bright smile.

Ok, so he’s avoiding the question. I still feel uneasy but I’m going to have to trust that he won’t drive himself crazy. 

I really hope I haven’t misplaced my trust. Because I have a nagging feeling in the back of my mind. 

I think that a disaster is approaching.


	8. Rising Suspicions

It’s been roughly one week since I had that conversation with Taylor. Since then, his shop’s inventory has grown immensely. He has suits from all over the multiverse ranging from spider-man to Aquaman to the Incredible Four. 

The other members of the team have been pretty normal for now. Well, As normal as normal gets around here. Speaking of which, here comes Kyle. Wait. Is he wearing a Red Lantern suit? Aren’t the Red Lanterns in the comics known to be supervillains? It was kind of their whole 

So what’s Kyle doing with an Anti-hero suit?

“Hey, Kyle! Uh, where did you get that suit from? I didn’t think you could get ahold of a suit like that.” I say, trying to sound nondescript about the matter.

“Oh. This? I didn’t get the suit per se. More like, I found the Red Ring and it kinda transformed my Green Lanter Suit into a Red one. Isn’t that cool? I can do so many more things now. Watch!” 

As he finishes his sentence he holds his hand, with the ring, out to his side and forms a sword. He then forms a blaster. I chuckle a little bit to try to act impressed, but really, I’m more worried than impressed. I decide to voice my concerns then. 

“Aren’t you worried that the suit is gonna, I don’t know, DO something to you?”

He shrugs off my concern with, “Not really. I’ve been wearing the suit for a few days now and I haven’t felt any different. Don’t worry Sky, I can handle myself,” he puts his hands on his hips as he says this, “I’m a big boy.” He smiles like he’s proud of himself.

I have to let out a genuine laugh at his antics. We wave goodbye and go our separate ways. As I walk aimlessly I ponder. I’m still concerned about Taylor, now KYLE is causing concern as well. *Sigh* Why can’t they just behave for once. I feel like because of the two of them I’m going to have grey hair growing in soon.

I’m startled out of my musings when I, literally, bump into someone. Ah, it’s Alex. He seems to be wearing civilian clothing for once and not his superboy outfit, or whatever that thing is called again. 

“Hey, Skylar. How are you?” He asks

Finally, some normal conversation. “I feel good. Yeah, I just talked to Kyle a little while ago and I’ve just been wandering around to get some fresh air.”

He nods his head. “Yeah, I get that. Sometimes I just need to clear my head and go on a walk for a little while. Hey, why don’t we stop by Jess’s place and see what she’s doing?” He invites with a small smile.

Oh boy, Jess’s place is always a trip. You never know what you’ll see when you walk in.  
“Sure! I would love to.”

So, we walk across town and as we get closer to Jess’s part of Daily, I see her giant palace of a home. I tend to forget that her home is based on the palace from Asgard. She is the superhero chosen to be Thor after all. For such a huge exterior, it’s actually not that sizeable inside. 

We get closer to the front door when we hear it.

“OH MY GOSH IS THAT MY SWEET GRAPE CHILD?!”

Huh. That’s a new one. Wait, shouldn’t I be offended? Alex and I look around to see where the voice came from and, lo and behold, she is hanging from the top of her door frame. Alex sighs in defeat at the young woman’s antics. Suddenly Jess yells out, “HEY ALEX! CATCH ME!”

In a matter of seconds, Alex suddenly has a handful of Jess in his arms. Out of utter surprise, he accidentally drops her and she starts laughing and rolling on the floor. 

Alex sighs and scolds her, “Jess. You shouldn’t surprise people like that. You could’ve gotten hurt.”

I admire Alex for his attempt at a mature talk with Jess, but his lesson isn’t going to get through to her. As seen by Jess continuing to giggle-

“Oh, c’mon Alex! I’m just having some fun. Besides, I knew you would catch me! Even if you dropped me after the fact. ANYWAY,” she says, turning towards me, “YOU! I haven’t hung out with you in SOOOOOO long. Come in!” She grabs my hand and drags me inside.

I look back at Alex, expecting some help from the hero. All I see is him chuckling at my misery. Great. Some hero. 

Eventually, Jess, Alex, and I make it to her lounge room and sit down. It’s a little chilly in this room and I happen to get cold easily. Jess notices my slight shiver and runs out of the room. Oh dear, Here it comes. Suddenly I’m being drowned in blankets upon blankets upon blankets. Absolutely. Drowned.

“Thanks, Jess,” I tell her as I struggle to free my arms from the pile of blankets, “anyway, what are you doing nowadays?” I would say it was curiosity that urged me to ask this question, but it’s only to make sure no other heroes are using the Anti-hero suits. Besides, I already have Taylor and Kyle to worry about, and I don’t want to add Jess to that list.

Jess ponders my question for a moment and responds with a pensive look on her face, “I don’t know actually. I’ve been thinking of traveling outside of Daily or even traveling into Metropolis!”  
Whew. Thank gods she’s only traveling. That’s one less hero to worry about going astray.   
Curious about her opinion on this troubling matter, I bring it up with her, “Jess, have you noticed Taylor and Kyle’s new suits?” My question brings a somber look to her usually bright face.

“I have noticed. The suits they are messing with are dangerous. They could get seriously hurt if they wear those suits for too long….Sky, I’m scared for them.” Her honest confession made me feel equally grim. Alex nods in solemn agreement at her words.

It’s the truth and it appears I’m not the only one who feels this same fear. Jess surprises me as she reveals more of her inner fears and worries, “I’m too scared to confront them about it. I tried to talk to Kyle about maybe taking off the Red Ring and staying away from it, but he snapped at me.” At this, both Alex and I gape in shock, “He yelled and said that I can’t change his mind about wearing the Ring. I fear the same reaction may come from Taylor.” Man, this is getting really serious then. Someone needs to do something about this before it gets too bad or worse, we lose Taylor and Kyle.

Jess takes a deep breath and raises her eyes to look at me, “I can’t change Kyle’s mind, and I seriously doubt Taylor will listen to me either. Sky, you need to be the one to confront them.”   
Alex joins in, “Sky, they need you to pull them out of this darkness.”

I release a deep sigh as I ponder the gravity of the situation. I’ll need to confront Kyle first. Hopefully, he’ll come to his senses and step away from the Red Ring. Taylor, I fear, is already being merged with his Anti-hero suit. 

We will need to confront Taylor together. 

As a team.


	9. Chapter 8: The Confrontation Part I

I need to get Kyle to listen to me, but how? It’s just like Jess said at the team meeting, Kyle will explode at anybody who even suggests something is wrong with him. But on the other hand, we need Kyle to help us confront Taylor.

Ugh. Why does this have to be so complicated?!

As I’m pondering my next move, I walk down the sidewalk of Daily, passing by Taylor’s tower/home and heading straight to Kyle’s place. His home is really close to Taylor’s and he is just outside of town, so it’s best to make my way to him instead of vice versa. Y’know. In case anything goes wrong. I knock on his “door” and wait for an answer. 

“Hey, kid!” He greets me with a smile and a happy expression. If only he wasn’t wearing that Red Lantern suit…  
“Hey, Kyle,” I started off my plan, “would you be interested in going to Metropolis with me and Jess?”

You see. Metropolis is a town a little ways away from Daily, but it is also known as Taylor’s city. He is the primary hero of that city and Taylor is often regarded as the mayor of that area. My plan is to get Kyle out of the main town and into Metropolis where I can corner him in a more secluded, empty area. I told Jess ahead of time to act like herself to further trick Kyle. I hate to do this to him… But that suit has got to go somehow. 

“Sure Sky, let me grab a few things and we’ll get going.” 

*1 hour later*

We’re currently crossing the bridge to get into Metropolis when Jess flies in out of nowhere in front of us. Right on time.

“HELLO, MY LITTLE PLUM-” wait, Jess what -” AND HELLO TO YOU TOO MR. CHERRY! HOW ARE WE TODAY!” She interrupts us and yells in excitement.   
“Never a dull moment for you is it Jess?” Kyle remarks.   
“Absolutely never my boy! Now, my dearest little one, my sweet cake, pure precious bean-” I had to interrupt her this time to get a word in.  
“Hi, Jess. I’m glad to see you’re doing well. Come with us to Metropolis to go sightseeing! It’s been too long since we’ve had an outing with just the three of us.” Now. I’m saying this to Jess, even though she already knows the plan, to trick Kyle into thinking that this is all just coincidental y’ know. He can’t have any reason to suspect anything is up. If he does, we’re screwed, to say the least.  
The three of us get closer and closer to the city when we notice something very peculiar-

Metropolis is covered in snow……..Did I mention it’s the middle of August?  
“Woah! What the hell happened here?” Kyle questioned.  
Meanwhile, Jess exclaimed whilst looking around, “OMG. It’s so pretty looking! It looks like CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST!!” So while Jess continues to squeal in delight at this unexpected discovery, I suddenly have a troubling thought,  
“Uh, not to spoil your fun Jess, but won’t Taylor be really pissed off about this?” I emphasize for Jess to understand that something bad could happen if he gets angry enough.   
“I’m sure he won’t be that twisted up about it, kid.” Kyle brushes off my concern and starts walking further into town. That’s not a good sign. Y’know, lack of concern of certain doom.  
“C’mon Kyle, you know Taylor just as well as I know him, he gets very defensive about his city and anyone who messes with it.” I’m trying to reason with him here, but he doesn’t seem to be buying into anything I say. Man, we gotta get that ring off of him.   
As a group, we decided to investigate what caused this snowy appearance in the first place since we were here. Someone had to figure out how to fix Metropolis before Taylor finds out.   
Jess speaks up suddenly, “Speaking of Taylor being angry, have you guys noticed how...temperamental he’s gotten recently?”   
I voice my agreement, “Absolutely, he’s also been acting really strange about that Ultron suit of his. It’s like he doesn’t want to take it off. He needs to give it a break.”  
“Maybe he just wants to experience what it's like y’ know?” Kyle’s remark leaves me and Jess looking at him questioningly.  
Jess voices our concern, “Experience WHAT, Kyle?”  
“Being a villain. I tried to get him to take a Red Ring as well, but it only ended with him screaming about ‘strings’ and then going completely berserk so-”  
“HE WHAT?!” Jess and I exclaim  
I begin to yell at Kyle, “What made you think that was a good idea?! That suit is already messing with his head as we speak and you thought trying to give him a Red Ring was a ‘good idea?’”   
Kyle turns to me, “Listen, Skylar, you don’t understand. I’m only doing what the Ring is telling me to do. Besides, he only came a little close to shooting me with his suit’s blaster, and the suit only changed in appearance a little.”   
I shot back, “Only a little?! That was probably the suit having a mind of its own over Taylor! That is absolutely not ok Kyle! And what do you mean he only came a litt-”  
Jess interrupts our squabble, “GUYS! Do you see that path over there? Off the coast?”  
Kyle and I stop yelling at each other to look where Jess is pointing us towards. It’s a path made of what seems to be ice. This is probably leading to whoever did this.   
I took a breath and started by saying, “Alright. Jess, thank you for drawing our attention to this. Kyle, we are going to talk about this later. But first, let us go investigate this so we can figure out who the hell covered Metropolis in ice and snow. “ They nod in agreement with me and we start off towards the path.  
As we get halfway down the path, we see a small mountain of ice coming into view, slightly off the coast. It seems to have an opening in the middle of the small mound. I’m not sure I want to know what is in there. We’re coming up to the opening and then something lets out a growl from within the cave. Fantastic.  
Kyle puts in his two cents, “I think a monster is in there, and from what I’m hearing, it’s angry.”  
I sighed, worried, “Guys, Taylor really isn’t going to be happy about this. “  
Jess tries to soothe my worries, “Don’t worry my little grape vanilla bean, it will all be ok. We just have to hope he doesn’t find out-”  
Jess gets cut off when someone drops down behind us. Do you want to guess who?

Taylor. Freaking Taylor showed up. Guess what he’s wearing--the Ultron suit. Freaking fantastic.  
“Anyone care to explain why my city is covered in snow?!” Taylor was all but yelling at the top of his lungs.   
I couldn’t help but feel a little afraid. It’s the first moment in my time on Earth that I feel genuinely afraid of Taylor. More so, afraid of what he might do.  
Kyle attempted to calm our friend down a little, “Listen, buddy, I’m sure we can find whoever did this and take them to the police station.”  
Taylor however, did not seem to want to listen to reason at the moment, “NO! How is it that EVERY TIME I try to build something of my own IT ALWAYS GOES TO SHIT AND SOMEONE HAS TO SCREW WITH IT-”  
Then, it happened. There was a bright flash of light and suddenly Kyle’s Red Ring flew off of him and his suit turned...white? Meanwhile the ring, well, the ring went to Taylor.   
“Guys, I’m not Red anymore! But how-” Kyle was momentarily excited until he looked over at Taylor.   
This is what I feared would happen.

That wasn’t Taylor anymore in that suit. It was Ultron.   
And he was pissed.


	10. Chapter 8: The Confrontation Part II

Taylor, no, Ultron was going on an absolute rampage. Remember when I said there was an ice monster in that cave? Yeah, that thing is absolutely gone now. Taylor...no, Ultron was screeching out in rage. It was like the sound was echoing around the world. We have to get him to calm down. So. I did the only thing I could think of. I ran up to him before he could destroy Metropolis.

“Taylor! I know you’re in there somewhere. C’mon, it’s me Sky!” I was begging for Taylor to hear me through Ultron’s corruption and rage, “TAYLOR! Please, you have to stop or you’re going to destroy your city! You will destroy Metropolis if you don’t stop!” 

For a small moment, it seemed like Ultron was aiming at...me, then he lowered his arm and there was another flash of light. It was from Taylor! Kyle rushed forward to catch him before he fell and gently laid him down on the ground.

“Taylor? C’mon wake up!” I was at his side pleading, but it was useless. He was out cold. I look at Kyle, who was now wearing a White Lantern suit for some reason (I mentally put that away somewhere, best to deal with later), and tell him, “Alright, you carry him to MightyMed and Jess and I can figure out how to calm the citizens near the coast.”

We tried to avoid the questioning stares from passerby’s but it was impossible to not run into somebody on our way to the hospital. As we enter the building, I spot Dr. Abigail and call her over, “DR! Taylor needs help.” Kyle brings over Taylor, who was still in his arms, unconscious and oblivious to the panic around him. 

Dr. Newman looked a little unnerved when she looked at him, rightly so. She began to ask questions as she led Kyle to a hospital bed to lay Tayor down, “Ok. What happened? Because I need someone to explain so I can treat him properly.”  
I didn’t want to be the person to tell her but I saw that I had no choice as Jess was completely pale and shaken up and Kyle was still shell shocked because of his Lantern suit. I tried to start off the dreaded conversation, “Well, Taylor has been working on a bunch of new suits recently and-”  
“Don’t tell me.” Dr. apparently knew where this was going.   
So. I pushed forward, “Long story short Doc, I think he’s being corrupted by the Ultron suit. It seemed like he wasn’t himself anymore. Almost as if Ultron was the one behind the wheel and Taylor was just in the back seat. I got Ultron or Taylor or...whoever to stop before he destroyed Metropolis. After that, there was a flash of light and Taylor just collapsed to the ground. He hasn’t woken up since.”

Dr. Abigail sighed in tired frustration, “I told him to stay away from the villain suit,” she looks up at the three of us, “Do you guys have the suit?”   
I hadn’t thought about that at all. I nearly started panicking until Jess spoke up for the first time since the incident occurred, “Yeah...I have it. When Taylor collapsed, the suit pieces dropped off of him and put them in my Ever Bag (Ever Bag=bag that holds a lot of storage).”   
Oh, thank the gods that Jess has it. I can’t believe I let myself forget about it. The first thought that comes to mind is- how do we get rid of it?  
Doctor must have read my mind because she looks at me directly and says something that I was dreading, “Skylar, you’re gonna need to talk to Kid Hero.”  
Kid Hero. That punk? Why? Why me?  
“Doc, I hate to break it to you, but that goon hates my guts. He’s going to absolutely blow up if I tell him I let one of his precious heroes get hurt.”  
A look of sympathy came over her face, “I know you two don’t get along so well-” huh, now that’s an understatement, “but he’s going to be the only person who knows what to do about this. He’s the one who is knowledgeable about the hero world and the villain world. He’ll know what’s happening better than any of us. All I can do is treat Taylor’s physical injuries and tell him to not wear those suits anymore. All you can do is make sure Taylor doesn’t wear the suits again.”  
*Sigh* I know she’s right, but c’mon. That twerp is a pain to work with. But it’s the only thing I can do right now. Jess heads back to her home to calm down and Kyle stays behind with Taylor. I start making my way over to the Tree. 

That’s right. The mighty “Kid Hero” lives in a mythical tree.   
I guess I should explain that bit. So, Gotham is located right across a river from Metropolis and it wasn’t doing well. Kyle was supposed to be running it but with the whole Red Ring situation, needless to say, he was distracted. The city had almost no energy, no one looking over it, and it seemed like the city was dying. Well, these Elves moved in with their tree. It stands tall and green. I would say it was about half the size of Avengers Tower. They came here because they had nowhere else to turn. We let them stay so long as they didn’t cause any trouble. Well, the queen fell ill and someone had to take her place as the placeholder. Kid Hero volunteered himself so now he lives there. The Tree’s roots stretch all the way past Daily and connect to Gotham. The Tree is basically keeping the city alive. So we have no qualms about it.  
I step into the chamber of the Tree and there he is in all his ginger glory. 

Kid Hero

Or as I call him, Nathan. Because I refuse to give him the satisfaction of having a title.   
He spots me entering the Tree and instantly looks disgusted, great, “What are you doing here?”  
Nice to see you too I thought to myself, “I’m not here to bicker with you. Taylor needs your help. It’s bad.”  
The disgust that previously resided on his face shifts towards a face of confusion and concern, “Why? What happened?”  
“Ultron happened. The suit...took over or something. We have the suit pieces now, but Taylor’s unconscious right now and he could be in danger. He also appears to have taken the Red Ring from Kyle, who is now a White Lantern?”  
Nathan looks downright surprised, “You’re kidding me, right? When was anyone gonna tell me this? Of course, it had to come from you. Well. I guess I have to tell you instead of the heroes I suppose.” This jacka- “Let’s start off with the suit. If you have someone bring the pieces to me, I’ll have them sent away somewhere where no one will know how to find them, not even me. It’s better that way. Secondly, the Ring. You said Taylor took the Ring from Kyle?” I nod my head yes, “Well that’s not good. Yes, All of Kyle’s impurities are gone now and he’s a White Lantern, which is great. Bad news, Taylor now has all of those impurities along with the corruption that comes with the Ultron suit.”

Nothing gets to be easy huh, “I’ll have Jess drop off the suit pieces to you. Listen, I know we don’t get along or anything, but hear me out. I don’t care if you hate my guts since I hate yours, but we can both agree that we care about Taylor. So we’re not doing this for each other, we do this for him.”

Nathan reluctantly agrees with me, “yeah yeah I get it. I wouldn’t spare any of my time to help you anyway.”  
“Ditto.” 

What a punk.


	11. Chapter 9: The Aftermath

As I walked back into MightyMed, Kyle ran up to me in a rush, “Skylar! Taylor’s waking up, you have to hurry!” He grabs my arm and pulls me along to Taylor’s room.

We walk up to, or more accurately Kyle drags me to Taylor, who is sitting with his head down in a wheelchair. They must’ve transferred him to the chair because he was waking up. He appeared to be mumbling under his breath and didn’t seem very conscious of anything happening around him. I hesitantly walk up and kneel down in front of him, trying to get a better view of his face.

“Taylor? Hey, Taylor, it’s Sky. You gotta wake up for me ok? We need to know you’re alright.”  
I was trying my best to keep quiet since his body would be undoubtedly worn out from what transpired earlier. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Abigail walked into the room quietly and spoke to Kyle, “Taylor most likely won’t remember what happened today. So, go easy on him and try to gently bring him up to speed.” I could hear their conversation from where I was sitting on the ground a couple of feet away.  
“Alright, you know the best doc. What about the Ring?”

Oh, that’s right. Taylor had taken the Ring from Kyle. Which, according to Nathan, means that Taylor is still going to be corrupt from the Ring and the residue corruption from Ultron. I need to do better at keeping him away from the villain suits. Or really any suits for that matter right now. 

I turned to Kyle and Dr. Abigail behind me, “Guys, I think Taylor should stay away from wearing any suits for a while. Just to let his body rest for right now. Kyle, you saw that Taylor wasn’t even actively wearing the Ultron suit, and yet it appeared.” That fact means that the suit is bound to Taylor now. Ultron has made his way into his head.

Kyle nods solemnly, “I agree kid. As much as we need him to protect Daily and Metropolis, the guy needs a break. At least before he breaks.” 

Dr. Abigail puts in her medical advice, “Skylar you should be in charge of watching over Taylor until he is completely recovered. “  
“So Skylar is basically Taylor’s babysitter until further notice?”

“It would appear so.”

We were just wrapping up our plans of how to avoid the use of any suits for Taylor when the man of the hour starts to wake up fully. The tell-tale sign being the low groan he lets out.  
“Ughhh...my head hurts so much,” he blearily looks up at me, directly in front of him and up at Kyle, “did we... go out drinking last night? I feel completely hungover and my body hurts...so much.” He seemed really confused as I and Kyle exchanged glances, trying to see who would break the news to him that it was no mere alcohol that caused this. 

I sighed and decided to just bite the bullet, “Taylor, you and Kyle didn’t go out drinking. Do you remember what happened in Metropolis?” I was choosing my words wisely for fear of an unpleasant reaction. The only way I describe this situation is by stepping over landmines. We had to be careful.

“Um, there was snow? There was snow all over Metropolis and you, Kyle, and Jess were on this…island thing? All I can remember is being mad and then...it’s blank. Now I’m here.” He was looking up at me and Kyle so genuinely confused. 

Kyle steps up to explain, “You got mad, Taylor. Like really mad. Also, do you remember if you had the Ultron suit with you at the time? Like in your Ever Bag or something?”

“I got mad? How mad could I have gotten?” oh Taylor, “But yeah, I had the suit in my Bag? Why does that seem to be important in this situation?”

I refused to make eye contact at my next words, “Taylor, you got so mad that the Ultron suit took over you. You completely demolished that island and the creature in the cave of the island,” I was treading over my words slowly and carefully, “you weren’t you Taylor.”

Taylor lets out a pained whine as he clutches his head. Then, he whips his head up as fast as he can in this condition and a look of horror takes over his face, “Oh. Oh no! What did I do? Did I hurt anybody??”

Kyle and I were quick to reassure him, “No you didn’t hurt anyone Taylor. Everyone is safe. Metropolis is safe.”

“Ok...ok.” he seemed to sag in his wheelchair in relief, “as long as no one got hurt. But wait, Kyle what happened to your suit? And your ring?”

Kyle held up his right hand which held the White Ring, “Well Taylor, you kind of...took the Red Ring from me, and now I’m a White Lantern.” 

Taylor groaned and put his head in his hands, “God, how could this get any worse?!”

I piped up, “Taylor, we can’t let you wear any of your suits for now. Don’t worry about the Ultron suit, we handled it. That also means you cannot work on any more Ultron suits and cannot work in any of your Iron Man suits. It’s for the sake of you recovering.”

Safe to say he didn’t like that statement

*2 Hours later*

Kyle and I are wheeling Taylor back home for the time being when Jess runs up to us and Alex floats down from his flying position.  
Jess smiles and greets Taylor, “hey sickie! Welcome to Jess and Alex’s TLC support group. We are going to be helping you recover and bounce back to your healthy self!”

Taylor looks up at me with a look that screams, ‘Don’t leave me with her!’

Unfortunately for Taylor, I was aware of Jess’s plan and actually supported it, so I handed Taylor’s wheelchair over to Alex.   
Taylor immediately protests, “Hey! Sky, help me! Don’t leave me with these people. Who knows what they’re gonna do to me!” 

I just laughed and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be with you, but I’m still letting them do whatever. It is Jess and Alex’s TLC support group after all.”

He frowned at me and tried to get away from Jess.  
This was going to be a much-needed break from everything. At least it’ll be fun for Kyle, Jess, Alex, and myself. Taylor can just keep protesting. Honestly, not going to lie, the protesting is a little entertaining as Jess skips next to Alex, who is pushing Taylor’s wheelchair towards the market in Daily. 

Jess tells Taylor some of her plans on the way over, “First, we need to get you a nice blanket to keep you nice and warm in your little wheelchair!”

Taylor looks up at her indignantly, “You do realize it’s still the middle of August right?”

Alex speaks up, “Oh she’s well aware of how hot it is out there. Seasonal weather won’t stop her though. Good luck with that, man.”

“YOU’RE GONNA KILL ME WITH HEAT STROKE!”

Those two continued to bicker as Jess rattles off her plan to coddle (torture) Taylor back to health. Alex glances at them with a look of utter fondness albeit a little tired.   
Meanwhile, I was chuckling quietly as I walked alongside Alex. Things seem like they are going back to normal for right now.

A nice breath of fresh air after a smokey storm of conflict.


	13. Chapter 10: The Eye of the Storm

*8 months later*

It’s been a while since I’ve reflected on everything, hasn’t it? The past 8 months have been tedious and full of careful observations. Observation of what exactly? More of an observation of someone. Namely, one Taylor. He listened to us last time about wearing the Ultron suit and Nathan took the suit Taylor had on when Ultron took over...gods know somewhere. 

In the meantime, I’ve been finalizing my blasters. What am I powering them with? I’m glad that you asked. As an Aethorian, I generate a natural energy source that only I can utilize. If I can find a way to use the tech to concentrate that energy, I’ll have naturally powered blasters to help me fight. 

Oh, that’s the other new development from the past 6 months. While Taylor was “benched” I took his place so as to help the team around Daily and Metropolis. I had Alex help me train and after a few weeks of unbearable soreness and bruises everywhere, I was ready to go into the field. 

Now that Taylor has been cleared by both Dr. Miller and Nathan (begrudgingly), we’ve become an unstoppable force against all the villains of the planet. Everything has been great so far- crime rates are lower than ever and the team’s had no weird occurrences(outside of the normal).

Until I noticed something was off.  
Taylor has been acting really weird lately and slightly standoffish. Of course, there’s the normal amount of weird because it’s Taylor, but this isn’t normal, even for him. He’s been hiding things from me and skirting around my questions. 

For example, I asked him about his other suits such as the Deathstroke suit that he had before the incident and he completely fielded my question with a nonsense answer. Now, I need to know the whereabouts of those suits because they’re not exactly hero suits which is the cause for my concern.

I just don’t want to let Taylor fall back into what happened 6 months ago with the Ultron suit. That has been one of my biggest regrets so far in my short life. Speaking of my short life, I turned 16 today! Jess actually helped calculate my birthday and what earth day I was technically born on. We figured out it was April 20th. Such a nice month. Spring has arrived and the weather seems nice for once. The sun is out and there’s a cool breeze blowing by gently. Nothing could possibly ruin this perfect day.

“HELLO MY PRECIOUS GRAPE BEAN!” 

Well, if it isn’t Jess here to greet me bright and early. 

“OH MY GOSH, I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU ARE 16 YEARS OLD TODAY! IT FEELS LIKE JUST YESTERDAY THAT YOU WERE INTRODUCING YOURSELF TO ME!” Jess finishes squealing in excitement.

I chuckle at her near childlike excitement, “I know. Time sure flies by fast doesn’t it?”

“It definitely does. OH WAIT. I really wasn’t supposed to let you know about this, but I can’t help myself really,” Now what secret could she be telling me? “The team has been planning a little birthday party for you tonight!”

Huh? A… Birthday party? I voice my confusion, “What do you mean by ‘Birthday Party’?”

Jess gasps in extreme shock while placing a hand on her chest, “WAIT. HAVE YOU NEVER HAD A BIRTHDAY PARTY BEFORE?!”

I choose to simply nod my head yes in response to her question.

Jess continues yelling at the top of her lungs, “OH MY GOD. NOW WE REALLY NEED TO MAKE THIS THE BEST BIRTHDAY PARTY EVER. I ONLY WANT THE BEST FOR MY SWEET LITTLE ALIEN GRAPE!”

As Jess runs away to go finish planning my “Birthday Party”, I wonder if I should be offended at whatever an “Alien grape” is, but I let it slide as I shake my head gently at her antics. Wait, she said that the team has been planning this thing. Does that mean Taylor has been in on it? Maybe that’s why I haven’t seen him much in the past few days. That assumption would be better than my initial guess, involving a certain villain suit. 

Impossible. We had the Ultron suit hidden away where no one would even be able to get to, much less find the actual suit.   
You know what? Jess is treating my birthday as a day to really let go and relax, so I’m going to do just that and stop worrying for a moment. At least for today…

*30 Minutes before the party*  
I’m standing outside of Taylor’s tower where Kyle told me to wait, but it’s getting dark and somehow I can’t see anything inside the windows. Suddenly, I feel my wristwatch buzz with a text message. It’s from Alex! It says to meet them in Taylor’s lab under the 1st floor of the Tower. Ok then, as long as I can get out of the cold out here. 

~It’s so cold…~

I’ve barely entered the doors when all of a sudden there’s yelling and confetti everywhere. I open my eyes and see my teammates and friends surrounding me with big smiles on their faces. I couldn’t stop the giant grin from forming on my face even if I wanted to. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy before!

But…  
Someone’s missing from the party. 

I shrug it off and decide to just enjoy myself for the time being with my friends-no, my family around me.   
We ate cake and they sang this repetitive song at me and clapped when I blew out these wax candles that were burning on top of the cake for some reason. Members of the team even got me some gifts. Jess got me a bunch of plushies, which was greatly appreciated. Kyle got me a coffee mug with a succulent on it. Alex got me a box of assorted teas that I could drink in my new mug. There were other presents too but these seemed to stick in my mind the most. At 10 P.M. is when I noticed just who exactly was missing from the party.

Taylor.  
Suddenly, a bad feeling filled my stomach and all I could think of was worst-case scenarios. Kyle seems to notice my distress and asks me, “Hey, Sky, what’s wrong??”

“Kyle, where’s Taylor?”

The room suddenly goes quiet as Kyle answers me, “He was here before you came in, but now that I think about it. He left as soon as Alex texted you to come in. How did he get out??” Kyle starts turning towards the other members of the team and trying to find out how our friend snuck out. 

That’s when we hear the first explosion.

“What the hell was that?!” Mateo speaks up 

“That sounds like it came from the right side of the Tower!” Jess helpfully provides.

Say no more.

I rush out of the lab and run outside, trying not to panic as my worst fears suddenly become true and this strange sense of doom starts to make sense. It’s Taylor that made that explosion. Except. Maybe it isn’t, not anymore. 

He’s wearing the Ultron suit again. This time though, it looks less like a suit and more of the actual Ultron. Who knows if Taylor is even in there anymore. 

The team, now minus 1, springs into action to keep Ultron from getting to Daily and hurting anyone. Or worse, killing innocents. 

“Taylor c’mon man, you have to be in there. Listen to us! You’re gonna hurt somebody doing this!” Alex is trying to fend off Ultron’s attacks by reasoning with Taylor.

Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s stopping Ultron this time. Not with how solid his hold on Taylor is. 

The battle doesn’t last long as one by one the heroes collapse near me, completely out of strength to keep fighting. The realization dawns on me. I’m going to have to stop Ultron, even if it means Taylor…

I can’t bear to think of that right now, but all I know is that I have to step in. Ultron will destroy Daily, move on and destroy Metropolis as well and kill too many innocents. What could have triggered this outburst? 

The first incident.

That’s why I’ve felt on edge since Ultron first took control of Taylor… Because Ultron never left Taylor completely. Sure, we took away the physical suit from Taylor, but that didn’t stop Ultron from making a home for himself in Taylor’s mind as an unwelcome visitor. He’s been building himself a new, stronger suit using Taylor, probably without Taylor even knowing what he was doing.   
He’s too far gone…

I have to stop him... for good. 

I muster up the courage I have before I back out to yell to him, “HEY ULTRON!” that catches his attention, “YEAH YOU. FOLLOW ME!”

I run as fast as my legs will carry me to the field further away from Daily and the Tower. My calves burn and my mind is racing, my emotions screaming at me to stop, but I can’t. It’s a good thing I wore my blasters today.

Ultron continues to follow me as I wanted while firing shots at me to try and take me down. He was yelling incoherently in rage, his only language left being violence. 

There we stood off. Both facing each other from the far ends of the grassy field, which would soon be singed with ash. For a moment, the entity before me appears to be Taylor, but I know that Taylor is too trapped within Ultron’s hold. I can only hold out my arm and hope he hears me when I plead, “Taylor, I know you’re in there somewhere. I’m so sorry...please forgive me.”

The beams of our blasts meet in the middle of the field. I struggle to hold my ground as Ultron holds steady, his ray inching closer and closer to me. I lift my head up from its bowed position to look up at him through the tears as my ray surges forward, mere several feet away from Ultron, from ending this once and for all. I clench my eyes close and push once more for this fight to meet its conclusion. A flash of white is all I see.

Then, nothing. 

I’m laying on the ground, my arm still outstretched to where Ultron was standing, I blearily notice, no one is standing there anymore. I did it.   
In my last moments of consciousness, I swear I see a reddish sliver of a mist-like light travel up my arm, appearing to sink into my skin. I fall unconscious and the only thing I can think of is Taylor. 

I… I killed him. Oh god... 

...I’m so cold...


End file.
